Wednesday, January 25, 2012

When faced with a veritable vat (yep... a "veritable vat") of meyer lemons, I did what any person, who did not want to see them go to waste, would do... I made all things lemon. And I mean all things lemon. Doug probably doesn't want to see another lemon cross our threshold for quite some time.

So, one of the first things that I wanted to make on this lemon journey was lemon curd. Momma R made some lemon curd at Christmas and it was heavenly, so I figured I would give it a shot myself.

Apparently it freezes nicely, so you can portion some out for use (refrigerated for about a week) then freeze the remainder in an ice cube tray (then transfer the frozen cubes into a plastic bag) to thaw as needed to serve as that perfect accompaniment to a scone or yogurt or fruit or whatever else suits your fancy!

Ingredients:

Zest of one lemon

1/2 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs (whole)

Pinch of salt

1 stick of butter (1/2 cup)

Combine the zest, juice, sugar, eggs and salt in pot on stove. Bring the mixture up to a simmer.

I sliced the stick of butter into smaller pats. Once the mixture is heated through, add the butter and whisk constantly on a medium-low heat.

Whisk until curd thickens. I would whisk, race to empty the dishwasher, whisk, wipe the table, whisk... I set the timer for ten minutes and was definitely whisking more than doing other things but I'd liken it to stirring a risotto. You want to give it consistent attention but you need not stand and stir for 45 minutes without a moment's reprieve. After the ten minute timer beeped, I tested the thickness of the curd by seeing how it coated the back of a wooden spoon. Once it covered the spoon with a reasonable thickness, I deemed it done.

Transfer the curd to a bowl to cool, pressing a piece of plastic wrap on the surface so that you don't get a film on top. Once cooled, refrigerate to let it fully set, then you are free to enjoy (if you didn't already scoop some warm curd onto a muffin while you waited (impatiently)).